The 21st APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting began here on Monday with a APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) dialogue, which detailed what steps should be taken to spur global growth, a statement said.

The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings include deliberations between the group's leaders and ABAC leaders who are drawn from the private sector of all APEC members.

This time's session was chaired by an Indonesian Wishnu Wardhana, 2013 ABAC Chair.

"The APEC Economic Leaders received direct input and recommendations from ABAC, who represents the business community in the Asia-Pacific region," the statement noted.

In his speech, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono underlined that since APEC's establishment, the business has played a key role in the face of global economic challenges.

The APEC Economic Leaders continued their discussions with the first session of the Leaders' Retreat.

"The APEC Leaders discussed APEC's role in strengthening the multilateral trading system in the face of current global economic conditions."

As chair of the meeting, President Yudhoyono stressed the importance of APEC's role in narrowing the development gap through supporting the multilateral trading system and the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) currently being pursued through the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Meetings will continue on Tuesday with the second session of the Leaders' retreat, which will discuss the regional connectivity agenda.

This will be followed by an informal discussion between APEC Leaders and leaders from the Pacific Islands, and will close with a working lunch, which will focus on achieving sustainable growth with equity in the Asia-Pacific region.

China will take over as the Chair of APEC in 2014 at the conclusion of the two-day meeting with pledges to intensify links between political leaders and the private sector stakeholders.

APEC's primary purpose is to facilitate economic growth and prosperity in the region. Endi

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